larry@uunet.uu.net (Larry Lippman) (09/23/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0386m05@vector.dallas.tx.us> portal!cup.portal.com! JDurand@apple.com writes: > I have noticed a disturbing trend in companies using automated attendent > systems. With an automated attendent, it's even easier for twits to call > you than it was with a Centrex system. While my organization has never had Centrex at its facilities, in July we did install a Northern Telecom Meridian SL-1 with auto-attendant features to replace a somewhat aging electronic PABX. The "twit call" problem actually seems to have diminished as callers find themselves with a voice mailbox in 4 rings as opposed to an unanswered call reverting back to the PABX attendant with the previous system. Getting back to the attendant then creates the opportunity for the "twit" to ask the attendant to - gasp! - page me! :-) With the Sl-1 system, getting back to the attendant requires a second call - which usually deters "twits" - UNLESS they know the "secret", which is to dial "0" with a touch-tone telephone after they have reached any voice mail box. Some of our users have elected to make the announcement of dialing "0" to reach the attendant in their personalized voice mail box greeting (a feature of the SL-1), but I have so far decided not to so so. > The result of this is most if not > all extensions in an office are programmed as "away from my desk" so the call > is routed to the voice-mail system. That is the way ALL of the extensions in our system are programmed; i.e., calls unanswered in 4 to 5 rings go to the user's voice mail box. I was originally somewhat skeptical of the voice mail box system, and was going to have my external calls permanently programmed to revert back to the "live" attendant on no answer. However, this turned out not to be necessary as outside callers have "adapted" to the voice mail system. > Now if you are in a company that is set up this way and you are trying > to reach someone else who is also "away from his desk", you might as > well send a letter since neither one of you will ever talk directly to > the other. I design voice-mail and automated attendent hardware, but > I use a standard answering machine to screen my calls so that I can > pick up any call that sounds important. Maybe I should add an option > like this to the voice-mail systems we design? Any ideas? At first, I was not certain how well the voice mail system would work out, and I had some reservations as to how useful it would be. The first few days following cutover did nothing to mitigate my concerns as a number of our telephone users had "fun" with the voice mail system by leaving obscene messages for other extensions, changing the personalized voice mail greetings of unsuspecting users (before passwords were implemented), etc. However, within a week everyone got the "novelty" aspect of voice mail out of their system, and got down to serious business. I also had mixed feelings about voice mail because I have been a proponent of greater use of UNIX electronic mail. However, to paraphrase an old saying, "You can put a UNIX terminal in a person's office, you can lead them to UNIX mail, but you can't MAKE 'em use it." :-) The voice mail system has certainly diminished use of UNIX mail, except between two of our facilities which are located 25 miles apart and have no voice tie lines. The bottom line is that voice mail has been EXTREMELY effective in improving communication within my organization and, three months after cutover, has been accepted and used by everyone in our organization. HOWEVER, I believe that there is a particular reason why voice mail has worked so well for us - all of our telephone sets (except for data lines) are multi-line electronic telephone sets with a "message" indicator and a "message" key which immediately accesses the voice mail box system. No user within the facility ever has to call the voice mail system to ascertain if they have mail waiting - they merely glance at the LCD "message" indicator on their telephone set to see if it is flashing. Many earlier voice mail systems do not have this feature, and I believe the key to success in voice mail systems is to eliminate the repetitive chore of a user having to dial a code to check their mail box. Of course, we have a voice mail access number so that users within the facilities but away from their desks can check their voice mail boxes, and any user can also check from outside the building using a number dialed through the auto-attendant. Sometimes I miss a call by a second or two and it "escapes" to the voice mail box system. At first, I wished there were some way to retrieve the call, but since I can get any message within seconds after it was left I no longer care about this situation. <> Larry Lippman @ Recognition Research Corp. - Uniquex Corp. - Viatran Corp. <> UUCP {allegra|boulder|decvax|rutgers|watmath}!sunybcs!kitty!larry <> TEL 716/688-1231 | 716/773-1700 {hplabs|utzoo|uunet}!/ \uniquex!larry <> FAX 716/741-9635 | 716/773-2488 "Have you hugged your cat today?"